Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog

Colourful Crochet, Craft, Cooking, and Contemplations

Friday 9 May 2014

Autumn Cleaning

In years gone by Spring was my favourite season!

I used to love spring cleaning:   unpacking every single cupboard;  putting down fresh shelf liners;  adding scented bags to the clothing and linen cupboards;   washing and packing away the blankets after the winter!

September and October used to be the best time for gardening and spring cleaning - it was warm but mild!    The last couple of years have just been unbearably hot here in Johannesburg (right from the beginning of September) - so hot that all I want to do is laze about by the Pool.

This has forced me to move my "Spring Cleaning" to Autumn - and really our Autumn weather is wonderful - warm and mild - occasionally a bit windy and a bit cool at night - but WONDERFUL!  The kind of weather that makes you feel energetic and INSPIRED!

I started my Autumn Cleaning with a tidy out of my craft space.    Sorting, rearranging - admiring all my pretty papers, paints, pens, embellishments and most of all YARN!!

Rolling the yarns that are no longer "whole" into cutesy little balls (by hand by the way - very relaxing!) and piling them into pretty baskets!


yarn stash

Taking the crochet blankets out - giving them a wash and a tumble dry (with those delightfully fragrant anti static sheets!)

Pretty Pinks and Reds,  (top down), GYPSY BLANKET;  HEXAGON MOTIF BLANKET;   DUSTY ROSE AFGHAN


crochet blankets

Loving the pretty flowers and simple edging on my Gypsy Blanket


crochet blankets

Blissful blues and purples,  (top down)  BLUE HUES;   BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE;   SHADES OF BLUE and a luxurious corner to corner granny that for some reason I never blogged about!
 
crochet blankets

Glorious grannies, (top down)  HAPPYGHAN;  a grey, tan and teal granny blanket (added in some really weird looking variegated yarn and some fluffy yarn left over from making infinity scarves);  my  OLD GRANNY BLANKET  made about 25 years ago;   and a purple / turquoise granny blanket also made some years ago from odd squares!


crochet blankets

Warm winter colours, (top down) HEXAGON SCRAPGHAN  and a RIPPLE AFGHAN!


crochet blankets

This Autumn Cleaning is a slow process - I keep getting sidetracked by all the lovely little details that make up my life!   Sitting looking through my scrapbooks,   taking out and packing away sentimental keepsakes - feeling happy!  happy!  happy!

Speaking of happy - I am still rather elated by my contribution to Lucy's (Attic 24) vision for YARNDALE 2014!

 yarndale mandalas

It was SO difficult to keep the secret while Lucy was preparing her blogpost!    My lovely bloggy friend, Pat of SUNSHINE AND A SEWING BASKET guessed my secret and not only agreed to keep my secret with me but to test the patterns before I published them!!!   Head on over to Pat's beautiful blog and have a look at all the happy, colourful mandalas she has been hooking!   She recently published two gorgeous designs of her own too!

And in keeping with the theme of Autumn look (oh just LOOK) at the gorgeous colours she used!!!!


yarndale mandalas

Thank You Pat!    For making my patterns look SO good!

Tomorrow I plan to do a bit of stocktaking!    Sorting and prioritizing works-in-progress and patterns that need to be written / published.

But for now....... a nice cuppa and a few Bachelors Buttons (lovely jammy cookies) my son and I baked this morning!


7 comments:

  1. what beautiful blankets-- your work is so beautiful, Zelna. Thanks for sharing these lovely photos.

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  2. Wow Zelna, your crochet blanket collection is Awe~Some, I have some catching up to do! I haven't made a ripple patterned throw or a C2C yet! I am having a serious case of Mandala'itis at the moment, some Very Good Stuff out there! :)
    Pat xxx

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  3. You've made some beautiful things! Having re-discovered crochet, I've become hooked and wonder if you know of any crochet clubs in Joburg?

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    1. Hi Kelly - whereabout in Johannesburg are you??

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  4. Wow look at all those beautiful afghans!! All your mandalas are fab that it's difficult to choose which one I want to make for Yarndale - guess I'll just have to make all of them and then decide!
    Have a great weekend X

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    1. I am going to square all the mandalas - for a great big Mandala Afghan!!! Then you won't have to decide which one to use!

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  5. Love the Mandalas. I have made one for Yarndale too. What a great idea for using them x

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